A month in and starting to wobble : (

Moderation, not deprivation.

IMO, with your stats, you can stand to eat more. You should make it a point to at least meet the minimum 1200 calories, but with your height and weight even that wouldn't be an appropriate goal for you. IMO, you're being too restrictive and that's going to cause you adherence issues.

Unless your goals to be a professional body builder your diet doesn't have to be perfect. You can have one every day if you fit it into your macros or you can just have a treat meal once a week. For example Ive gone from bulking up the last few months to now trimming down and I've started a new keto style diet today. Already I have planned in a treat for this Saturday night where I'm having a meal before work with friends. I will not be calorie counting or worrying. I will be right back on it Sunday morning. Stay off the scales too. Tape measures, clothes, photos and general wellbeing are better measures. I know Sunday morning I will have put weight on because the sudden hit of carbs will cause me to retain water. I know by monday/Tuesday it will come off again. However if you didn't know to take the scales with a pinch of salt it's enough to derail you.

Seriously you will never stick to a healthy way of eating if it means the end of the food you enjoy. Just limit the bad food and if you have a bad day hit reset and get back on it the next day. No one will ever have a steady transformation. It will be up and down as you go. Just stick with it, do the right things most if the time and it will happen. Good luck x

abby2810 wrote: »

I am a month in and about 9kg down already (currently 5'10, 120kg and completely sedentary due to illness)

I am trying mostly high protein low carbon but ultimately just stuck religiously to keeping my calories and sugar under the 1480 recommended.

I average between 1100- 1400 and don't feel deprived and log EVERYTHING. I after the initial fast drop I am happy with my 1kg a week, it's slow and sustainable and doesn't require much effort or angst on my part.

But today I am desperate for some cake - I have already prologged for the day and just don't have the space for it. Nor do I want it - it will be the starting of a binge.

Not sure what I am looking for in terms of advice... I've just been doing so well I don't want to slip up.

Now mildly amused as I realise I am worrying about something that hasn't happened yet!!

Gosh I was a small fondant fancy!

I personally agree with you. One small cake could easily start a sugar binge for me too. Every time I'm able to ride out the craving and resist I feel stronger. Hopefully I will get to a point where I can eat a bit of a sugary treat and stop.....but not yet.

Go out and have a piece of cake in a restaurant, don't bye a cake then there will be to much temptation. Having your cake out will feel like a pleasure and you won't feel deprived anymore. Depriving yours self will turn into sabotage and you are working so hard. Congratulations on your weight loss, that awesome!

The sedentary part sucks. What's worked for me in the past is to go ahead and have the cake, but only after I do at least 30 minutes of intense cardio like running. Either a) I find I don't want the cake badly enough to run, b) I run and have the cake, but the run gave me some extra calories to play with or (most frequently) c) I do the run and by the time I get back I've forgotten about the cake. When I started doing the 'earn the cake' trick, I found I had very few problems with binges, I think because one cause of the binge was the 'well, I've completely blown it now' thinking that goes on. Crossing my fingers that you'll be able to come up with a similar trick that works for you!

I'd agree that you can afford to eat a little more at this stage. If that one cake does trigger a binge then lesson learned and you can find something else that satisfies a craving without triggering you. This isn't about 100% perfection, it's as much about learning how to manage your relationship to food and that requires a certain amount of "failure" too and how you go about dealing with it.

And whilst you may not feel deprived, I know that if I have been eating under goal for too many days in a row I am going to get smacked with every craving known to man. Its my body's way of ringing the alarm bell. Eating too little can be as detrimental to reaching your goals as eating too much as it can lead to binge/restrict cycles.

You're doing great! And coming here to let off steam and ask for advice is a great way to keep yourself going.

I had a pretty difficult time with food when I first started logging. It was eye-opening to begin to understand the amount of calories I was consuming. The first thing that stuck out to me in your post was the low end of your calories at 1100. I think the usual recommendation is 1200 minimum, but all of our bodies are different so if a low of 1100 is working for you and is easy to maintain, stick with it.

Using good self-control I let myself have a treat meal once per week, usually on Friday evening when we splurge on pizza for dinner. And even though I let myself have pizza, I stick to having only 2 slices - which is quite a bit less than I could eat, but I don't need to eat more to feel satisfied. After my treat meal last night, my weight is actually down this morning. I know the science of burn more calories than you eat is pretty simple, but our bodies are so much more complex than just that.

Check out this article on treat meals (they call them cheat meals, but I think that makes it sound like you're doing something wrong - and you're not!). It gives some good advice on how to allow yourself a treat and how it can help your weight loss efforts. It seems to work for me.
livestrong.com/article/542505-the-art-and-science-of-cheat-meals/

Hope you can find that balance and keep up the good work!

I see you don't have any friends on MFP, I find my friends super motivating! They comment on my posts with advice and answers to my questions, and like when I complete my diary entry for the day, its really motivating, plus I wonder how they are all doing so it keeps me coming back